The black circle of Delenore
by Claudia.wolf
Summary: In this story my Original cast of friends that I share with my friend will go on an adventure as wizards and witches. Soon they'll discover something that would have better remained hidden. A dark creature appears and they have to find out what it is after.
1. Prolgue

**Prologue**

In a dark dungeon like hallway roamed two witches about, talking about their master plan.

"Head mistress are you sure we shall succeed."

"I am absolutely positive she will be here."

"But mistress what if we fail?"

"Not to worry Mrs Hawk, for the demon we're about to summon is so powerful that the only other demon in this realm who stands a change against it, is her."

"And your positive only she can beat it?"

"If the need were to arrive I know how to deal with it, but without a doubt I can say she's the only demon who can beat him. Since all the other powerful demons are either bound to a human soul or are trapped in the demon realm. She on the other hand is free to roam the earth!"

"Is she that p..p..powerful?"

"Are you scared Mrs Hawk?"

"W..what n..noo!"

"It's alright, you have all the rights to be scared. I saw what demons are capable of and it's nothing short of brilliant! Surely The demon mistress Emyra herself wouldn't be any different. If all the rumors about her are accurate, then she will become even more powerful than the great demon lord himself!"

"R...really? How are we going to capture her then?"

"It appears she's hiding among humans and lives her life as a normal teenager. Which means, soon she'll have to join a school. And since her foster mother is a witch, she will no doubt want to join a magic school. I have already send out an invitation."

"You know who she is then?"

"Why of cause, she's know as…."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **The rare discovery**

"Emily! It's morning! Rise and shine!"

"Urg… mom give me five more minutes please…"

"But you finally received the invitation you were waiting for! You know the collage of Black circle!"

"… … … Oh! I'm coming mother!"

I quickly ran downstairs as my mother was waiting for me to take the letter.

I grabbed it and started reading.

The letter stated some school rules, one of them was that you were allowed to take a pet to school.

Also all the information regarding the necessary books and school uniforms.

The school begins next week.

I immediately ran to my room just to check if I indeed had everything.

Cauldron check, all the necessary school books check, my school uniform check and a potion kit check and a pet…

Honestly I have an owl but it's my moms and we need it to send letters to my grandma.

I asked my mom and she said "Why not take the Thunix with you? Not only is it a mythological creature it is also know to be a kind and loyal companion."

"That is a great idea! Thanks mom! Tomorrow I'll get the needed supplies for the Thunix.

O almost forgot, I still need to think of a name! It seems to be a male since its black feathers have a blue glow on it. I guess maybe Pyro!"

"That is a good name dear."

It was kind of a sad story on how I met Pyro.

I found him just a couple of day's ago, almost a week now in fact.

So I didn't have much supplies for him yet, just the most urgent ones.

You see Pyro's mother died.

I guess I should start from the beginning.

The day I found him was a very dark, foggy and ominous day.

I saw some weird lights in the distance like fire and lightning.

So I wanted to check it out.

A little while later I was walking outside in the forest, when I heard the weirdest sound.

It was almost like that of a Thunder bird, they are very rare though.

Anyhow, I went to check it out and I was right it was a bird just not a Thunder bird.

No this creature was even more rare.

It was a Thunix, that is a rare combination between the two legendary birds the Phoenix and of cause the Thunder bird.

This bird is extremely rare because the birds usually fight when they meet.

This was still a very young one though.

It looked scared, I'm lucky that I have my way with animals.

I slowly approached the poor thing.

And when I got closer I saw a huge Thunderbird laying behind the little Thunix.

It must have been it's mother because the little bird tried to hide under it's wing.

I noticed that the Thunder bird was dead.

It looked like it was hunted down by someone.

The poor thing was crying to it's diseased mom, trying to wake her up.

It was sad to watch, to say the least.

I slowly got closer making soft sounds and soft whispers, just to make it know I was coming closer.

Then about two feet away I sat down.

You always have to wait for the animal to come to you.

So I sat there for hours making small sings at the bird that it was alright.

After a while it stopped hiding and got closer.

Luckily I had Some food on me and stuck it out to the bird.

After another hour he finally felt brave enough to take it out of my hand.

I sat there feeding the bird and trying to gain it's trust.

The poor thing was hurt and clearly starving.

Then I heard voices coming from nearby.

"Where on earth is that damm bird!"

"How should I know? You're the one who shot it down a couple of days ago!"

They were getting closer.

"Damm that poor thing doesn't even realize that it's mom is really gone yet!"

I had no other option but to grab the little bird and run.

So I did, when I started running the man started chasing me.

I ran as fast as I could with the poor bird who was still calling out to it's mom.

I for one know that Phoenix birds don't care for their young since they get reborn Anyways, so there was no way that it's father was gonna save it.

I started to use some of my fire just to scare them off.

The bird then stopped screaming and it just stared at me.

I looked back for a second, it was looking at me with a stare of confusion.

Then I noticed that the bird was cold, so I took of my robe and tied it around the little Thunix.

It then seemed to trust me.

The men got closer again so I used some more fire to block off the route.

I continued running all the way back home and ran just a little bit further just to make sure that I wasn't followed.

The area seemed clear.

I went back inside my home and put the bird under a warm blanked near my fire place.

It seemed to like it since it fell asleep almost right away.

When my mom got home I had a lot of explaining to do.

She understood me and helped me prepare some food for the bird.

And ever since then he became part of our little family.

Anyways I now have everything ready for next week that was such a relief.

And thus I am ready to go to my new school, The Black Circle!

It's going to be awesome!

The Black Circle is one of the most famous special schools for people like me.

O I guess it's worth mentioning that I'm a witch, a fire witch in fact.

So yeah, a school full of magic is what you should imagine.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The preparations

Dawn broke trough, a new day began.

Today I went shopping for Pyro.

At first I couldn't find anything useful just some ordinary bird cages and stuff for normal birds like owls, crows and pigeons.

But then I found a shop called The legendary den, it was a wonderful shop with all kinds of items for legendary mystical creatures.

The old shop owner is a nice guy my mom is good friends with him so I knew I was in the right place.

Still I didn't see any Thunix items, so I talked to Max the shops owner.

I asked. "Good morning Max, do you perhaps have anything useful for a Thunix keeper?"

He answered with. "Why of cause! I just chose not to put it out in the open since a lot of it gets stolen and sold on the black wizard market. Anyways how old is your Thunix?"

"I'm not sure but it is still very young, it's mother died and then I took it in."

"I see, I assume another hunter attack?"

"Yes… how did you know?" I asked

"I'm surprised that you do not know, it's all over the magic newspaper. There are a lot of unidentified hunters out there. They go after mythical and rare creatures. Why they do that, no one knows. But these attacks are getting more frequent and they even attacked some wizards.

We're not sure whether their non-mages or wizards. So we're not allowed to use magic as long as they don't."

Honestly I was quit shocked by this.

I told Max exactly how I found Pyro and that I was also being chased by them.

He told me that I could take the Thunix to him for a quick health check and to see what items I would need.

So when I got home I gave Pyro some food and made sure I got enough money to pay for all the items.

I went back to the shop and walked inside.

"Hello again!" I heard a familiar voice, Max was walking towards me with a kind smile.

"Hi Max, this is Pyro. Cute isn't he?" I showed him the little Thunix.

He was sitting on my shoulder and seemed to be interested in it's surroundings.

"He is indeed very young, you're lucky though he's old enough to eat without help." Max concluded.

Max took us down stairs to the basement where he stored all his items.

He grabbed some boxes from which some of them looked very old.

Max opened the first box and grabbed an old book.

"Alright it might be a bit old but it's still up to date, here you can find all the information you need."

He had a lot of stuff for Pyro like a special bag to take food with you on the way.

Or like a special fire and lightning proof resting stick, where it could sleep at night.

He also gave me a tag with magic powers, so I would always know where he is.

Then Max asked me to assist him to check for Pyro's health.

"You're a fire wizard if I'm not mistaken?" He asked

"Uhm yeah" I answered.

"Good, that means that he trusts you. You see fire magic would definitely seem familiar to the bird."

"That's right! One of it's parents is a phoenix, the bird of fire! So that's why Pyro seemed to trust me after I used my fire magic!"

"Exactly, also it is said that some fire wizards can learn lightning magic from a Thunix." Max answered.

That is so awesome! I can learn how to use lightning a special magic skill that is also pretty rare!

Max said that the bird was quit cold but it should be fine if I let it rest in a warm home.

He also concluded that the couple of wounds it had weren't severe and would heal over time.

Max gave me all the stuff I needed and he even got me some discount.

So after a nice small talk I went back home and spend some time with Pyro.

Later that evening I grew a bit worried since that my mom hasn't come home yet and usually she'd already be here.

I looked outside and it was foggy, again.

And just like before I got an eerie feeling, a hunch that something just wasn't quit right.

Then a weird sound was heard, no way that this was another creature though.

It sounded unlike anything I've ever heard, it was like an old door slowly creaked open but deeper and slower, luckily it seemed very far away.

Pyro was acting strange all of the sudden, he started flying around and landed behind my chair.

It seems as if he tried to hide from something.

The sound could still be heard although it seemed further in the distance.

The fog got deeper though and when I saw Pyro trying even harder to hide.

It seemed more likely that whatever it is, is in fact coming closer and not further away.

The sound was getting further away until it sounded like a soft whisper.

But the fog was now so deep that I could not see anything outside, it was all gray.

Pyro was also getting more uneasy and tried to hide behind my back.

So my guess is that the sound must be something else but still, it somehow seems like it would be coming from one source.

Then I heard a slight tap on the window in the kitchen followed by three more taps.

I looked over to the window and stood still in horror.

I don't like to admit it but I was frozen in fear, unsure of what to make of the situation.

There was a shadow figure standing outside my window.

Thanks to the fog I could only see the finger that was again tapping on the window.

It was a long dark finger with a sharp claw like nail and it seemed crooked.

Also it was longer than any human finger, maybe it was a creature after all.

But I have never seen anything like it, nor read about it.

Then the hand moved towards the handle on the window.

" _But the handle was on the inside, why would it.._." just as I thought that I got my answer.

The handle started to move, **it** was using magic to open up my window.

I stood frozen in my tracts unsure of what to do.

" _I could run but there is no where to run to, I could hide but there is no where to hide._

 _My only option is to fight!_ " I thought.

I slowly moved my arm forward to cast a powerful spell, while the creature was slowly slighting the window open.

Then right when I wanted to use my flames, Pyro had already jumped into action and flew towards that thing.

Pyro gave it his all to shock that thing with a small lightning bolt and the creature ran off.

The sound started to grow louder again, but the fog was fading.

After almost five minutes the fog disappeared and so did the sound.

The eerie feeling was also gone and Pyro was starting to calm down.

From that moment on I knew that I could count on Pyro, he saved me today.

I was to scared to go outside though afraid to encounter that thing again so I decided to wait a little longer for my mom.

After about an hour I finally heard the door being unlocked and my mom coming in.

I asked her where she had been and she told me that she waited at work for the fog to disappear.

I was glad that she was okay and decided to keep quit about the creature for now.

The rest of the evening went great.

We had dinner and Pyro had his small peaces of meat with a special vitamin powder.

We watched some television and talked about my new semester and what I could expect at school.

My mom had studied there when she was my age.

She told me that the Halloween party's are amazing and that I should definitely go there.

The rest of the week is going to be fun too, tomorrow we'll go to my grandma's place and the day after that I can visit my uncle.

Than the last two day's I can do whatever I want since I'll be home alone.

Than on Monday my mom will bring me to The Black Circle college.

I'm so exited, yet also scared since I know no one and will have to share my room with another girl.

You see they have a 1 room for 2 students and 8 to 10 rooms in one dorm.

The girls have the right side of the building and the guy's the left side.

In the middle and the back are all the classrooms.

And my mom says that there is a huge outside area to practice spells and play games.

Also at the far corner of the property here is a huge field for all the animals to play and practice.

It's next to the forest, which I definitely want to visit.

They say that it is so beautiful especially at night and full of mythical creatures.

Anyways I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

I'm too exited, also I'm still not sure what I saw today and it still scares me.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rules are there for a reason

"Finally! It's Monday! Today is the day that I'll be going to Black Circle collage!"

I said out of joy.

My mom was still asleep since it was 5 o'clock in the morning but I just couldn't sleep anymore.

I made sure that I had all my school stuff ready.

Pyro was already awake as well and ready to go.

I guess he must have felt that something exiting is going to happen.

I went downstairs and prepared some breakfast for me, my mom and of cause Pyro.

I sat down at the table and turned on the TV, there seemed to be something serious going on.

Since all the channels had their news on and it seemed very chaotic.

Apparently someone found a dead body.

There was almost nothing left of the poor guy, just his upper torso without his right arm.

Or so they said, of cause they weren't allowed to show it on television since it would be to graphic.

I heard some sounds coming from upstairs, finally my mom woke up.

She came downstairs and together we ate our breakfast.

In the blink of an eye it was 8 o'clock, time to go.

My mom had a special teleporting crystal ready and just like that we where standing in frond of a huge castle like mansion.

"Wauw, it's huuuuuge!" I said in amazement.

"Yes, welcome to Black Circle collage!" my mom said while we we staring at the magical mansion.

My mom walked with me to the frond door and there in the front garden where all kinds of wizard.

All the parents where there to say goodby to their children.

I was really nervous thanks to all the people there.

Then a female wizard came through the door, she was old but had a kind face.

"That's the head mistress of the school, if you run into any problems go to her." My mom said.

Then the head mistress spoke. "Good morning students, parents and friends."

People were immediately quiet and all eye's were on her.

I heard some people whisper.

"No way that is mistress Delenore! She is the most awesomeness mind witch!"

"Are you kidding me?! You mean the witch that can control items with her mind?"

"Yes! Not only that she can read minds I heard!"

It seemed kind of odd, a witch that can read minds? I doubt it.

The mistress then continued. "Welcome to all new students and also welcome back to the older students. Alright the students that had been here last year..."

"Go to the right side entrance, just like last year and the year before that." I heard an older student finish her sentence.

She continued. "And the new students say your last goodby's and follow me please"

She opened up the front door as wide as she could and walked inside towards a huge staircase.

The staircase split up in two on the first floor and went all the way around the next floors.

I think there are about 6 floors.

Mistress Delenore continued her story. "Alright listen closely. The male students sleep in the left wing and the female students in the right. You can find your room number on your acceptance letter. You will get you schedule tomorrow morning. Which leads me to the next subject, we expect all the students to be in the dining room tomorrow morning around 10 o'clock.

Then you will meet your teachers and will receive all the information you need regarding the up following school semester. For now you are free to explore the building except for the most upper floor and the area's with a forbidden sign. Have a lovely day!"

She then walked off back outside, probably to greet the older students.

I waited until the huge crowd had shrunken to just a couple of students.

You see I'm not a huge fan of crowds and most people.

Once it had quiet down I started to wonder around.

The building was old yet so amazing and magical, I gotta say I was very distracted by it all.

So distracted in fact that I didn't even notice that some idiot was walking straight towards me.

He was distracted as well by his pet squirrel.

Pyro flew off my shoulder and I followed his movement with my eyes but was as stupid as to still walk forward.

And just like that we walked straight into each other and fell to the floor.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" The guy said.

He looked like a nice guy, with black hair and was wearing headphones.

"Uhm…., yeah I'm fine. I'm sorry too. Are you okay?" I awkwardly answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse incidents." He said.

"You don't say? Well anyways I should get going so…bye!" I said while quickly gathering my stuff and continuing my path.

"…...Wait!" He called after me and almost just as quick he ran over to me.

I kept walking though, this felt really awkward so I wanted to get out of there.

"My name is Mark, what's yours?" He asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I returned a question.

"Well, we're gonna be classmates right? So it's only natural right?" He answered.

I sighed. "My name is Emily." And continued walking.

"So….."

Dammit he was still walking next to me, didn't he take the hint yet?

"O MY GOD! Is that a Thunix?!" he seemed a bit too exited.

"Glad you noticed" I sarcasticly said while not paying much attention to him.

"That is so cool! So….. what are your interests?"

" _He really didn't get it, what an idiot!_ " I thought to myself.

I sighed again. "Games, I like gaming. Also I'm very interested in mythological creatures."

"That is sooooooo cool! Me too!"

He continued talking to me all the way of the magical building.

That is until I reached the girls wing.

"Well, I think we have to part ways now." I said blocking the way.

"O yeah, girls only. Sure, yeah. I'll be going then…. See you tomorrow..." He said.

I could see that he didn't want to leave but honestly didn't care much either.

He talks a bit too much if you ask me.

Anyways I was heading over to my room on the 5th floor.

I had number 20 all the way at the end of the hallway.

There was a name tag on the door, it read: "Emily White and Alma Brand."

I slowly opened the door. "Hello? My name is Emily and…." Just before I could finish a girl fell from the sealing. "You must be my roommate! Well met! I'm Alma the Air witch!" She said.

" _O great another overly happy person"_ I thought.

She practically pulled me in and started talking about a lot of stuff.

At first she seemed very annoying and talkative.

But after a while she accurately seemed kind of nice, she was just as nervous as I was.

A little while later I felt safe enough to open up a little.

We talked about what we think we would learn here and what to expect.

"O by the way, what type of witch are you?" She asked.

It only seemed fair to tell her since she already told me hers.

"I'm a fire witch." I knew she would be shocked since there aren't many fire wizards and most of the are know to be very dangerous.

"That's so cool! No one would even dare to bully us! Hahahaha" She said.

"So you're not scared of me?" I honestly was quit shocked by her calm reaction.

"No way! You don't seem like a bad person at all. I don't believe you would harm anyone."

Her expression suddenly turned serious. "Will you….will you please be my friend?"

She asked nervously.

She seemed smart and really caring, she definitely didn't seem like a bad person either.

So I said: "Yeah, sure why not?"

She seemed really happy about that.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and we just kept on talking about all kinds of things.

The night slowly came in as the sky got darker.

Owls and other nightly creatures could be heard from the forest.

Reminding me that I still haven't seen it yet.

I couldn't sleep at all that night.

I was in a strange yet awesome mansion, sharing my room for the first time.

And I was nervous about the upcoming day.

I whispered at Alma to check if she was still awake, unfortunately for me she was sound asleep.

Pyro also didn't seem to have any problem sleeping.

I looked outside the window.

There was a sand path leading into the forest, with an old little shed beside the path.

For a split second I thought I saw a shadow move close to the shed.

But I also figured it must have been my mind playing tricks on me, since that I'm actually getting really tired.

I read an interesting book about elves and nimf's until I fell asleep with book an all.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sneakingly good

Dawn broke trough, a new day began.

I woke up the next morning and the first thing I saw was Alma staring at me.

"Hey! You're awake! You know that you talked in your sleep right?" she said.

Honestly I was still to tired to register what she just said so I just nodded.

But later on I started thinking, I never talked when I was sleeping.

"So what did I say?" I awkwardly asked.

"I'm not sure. You didn't speak clearly." She answered.

"Weird..."

I looked at the clock, it read 9:55.

"Crap! Alma we only have 5 minutes left!" I yelled out.

We quickly grabbed our stuff and our pets.

After that we ran downstairs as if a Balrog was chasing us.

I saw Mark out of the corner of my eye he was also running.

Unfortunately I saw him to late and again he was as stupid as to bump straight into me.

We both fell down again, this time I did hurt myself.

"Not you again!" I signed.

"What? I'm cool. Anyways you're not allowed to run in the hallway." He answered trying to put the blame on me.

"O really? So what were **you** running for?" I replied.

"Fair enough."

All three of us then continued running towards the dining room.

We sat down at the last free spaces.

Alma and I sat next to each other and Mark had to sit on the other side of the room.

"Who was that guy?" Alma asked

"….O you mean Mark? He is the idiot that ran into me twice now." I replied.

"Well he seems like a kind person, also he's pretty handsome." She said.

"Well….I guess." I replied, he was kind of cute.

Mistress Delenore was standing on a small stage at the end of the room.

"Good morning students, today I shall explain the main rules and you schedules and today you will meet you're teachers. But first things first, the rules. We have five in total.

Rule number one, no students are allowed to go to the 6th floor unless there is an emergency or if you get send to my office.

Rule number two, at day the male and female students are allowed to enter each others dorm but after 10 o'clock this is forbidden.

Rule number three also after 11 o'clock no students are allowed to wonder the school, you are to stay in your room. Unless there is an emergency.

Rule number four, if you run into any problems you are welcome to talk about it with your teacher of choice or me if you'd prefer that.

The last rule is of the utmost importance, you are never to go into the forest without a teacher guiding you. And under no circumstances are any of you allowed to go there at night.

Remember these rules are there to keep you safe and to keep peace between ourselves."

As soon as she finished other people walked towards the stage.

"These are your teachers: Mr Cooper, your teacher in the art of disappearance.

Mrs Smith, she will teach you about the history of magic.

Mr Deniel, he will be your potion teacher.

Mr Fear, that will be your teacher in attacking spells.

Mrs Green, she will teach you defending spells.

Mrs Hawk, and she can teach you the other remaining spells and enchantments.

Mr Rake, he will teach you monstolegie. All the things you'll have to know about mythical creatures.

As for your schedules you can pick them up at the tables in front of you.

For the rest of today you can freely go about and explore the outside area's."

Mrs Delenore then walked back to the side door she and the other teacher came from.

Everyone then got out of the dinning room and as usual I waited until everyone cleared out.

Only four people remained.

One other male student with green hair was talking with Mark and seemed really impressed by him.

Mark noticed us and almost immediately walked over to us, with the other guy walking behind him.

"Quit stalking me!" I said.

"No not until you allow me to be your friend." Mark said with a huge smile.

"you two are weird, anyways who are you?" Alma said

"O Hi my name is Jack!" The guy next to Mark said.

"Hi Jack, my name is Alma and this is Emily."

" _I gotta say this guy looks cute, not in a handsome way but just cute._ " I thought.

After all the meeting stuff I walked down the hallway that led to the backyard with the three _"_ _musketeers"_ following me.

Honestly I don't mind, I'm just a little anti social and still very nervous.

The outside area looked huge, I already notice a smaller corner next to the schools library.

That was gonna be my little hide away corner during class where I could practice my fire magic without people being to close to me.

You know in case something goes wrong.

There was a huge outside arena, I guess that's where the spell tournament is held.

You're supposed to push you're enemy out of the ring.

If after ten minutes both teams are still in the ring, the ring goes really small and then you have another five minutes to push you're opponent off.

If you both manage to stand it's a draw, if you win you get ten points, if you lose zero and if it's a draw then both get five points.

It's as simple as that.

The four of us walked around the school until we reached the edge of the forest.

There was a sign reading Foggy Forest West entrance.

I walked closer to the edge until I stood in front of the first huge trees.

"Em! You're not supposed to go into the forest! It's dangerous!" Mark yelled out.

Mark and the others were still keeping their distance.

"No way that a forest called Foggy Forest is **that** dangerous. But if you insist I won't try anything." I said with a mischievous smile on my face.

We walked back towards the school and looked around a bit more.

After a while we had dinner and were sent off to our rooms, Mark and Jack were allowed to stay in our room until 10 o'clock.

Then the night guard came to send Mark and Jack back to their room.

The night guard is a kind person but if you sneak out at night, I heard he could be very scary.

Both me and Alma talked for a while before finally falling asleep.

Well more like she fell asleep, I on the other hand had different plans.

I was consumed by curiosity so I sneaked out of the room.

The hallway was very dark and very quit.

I was doubting though, it was only the first week after all.

But I decided that it was now or never.

I continued sneaking down the hallway, I had to be very careful though since some floorboards were creaking.

Then I suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

I ran to a the other side and hid behind a wall.

The footsteps finally reached the top of the stairs.

The sound came closer and closer to the hiding spot.

A light of a lantern could also been seen coming closer.

" _Shit, he's gonna catch me at this rate_." I thought to myself.

Then suddenly there was a sound coming from the other side of the hallway.

The footsteps and light were fading away into the dark long hallways.

I exhaled out of relief.

"Is he gone?!" A voice whispered very loudly from behind Emily.

Emily got jump scared by Jack and almost burned Jack had she not seen it was him in time.

"Are you mad?" I asked. "I could have burned your face off?!"

"Fire witch eh? Nice! "Jack said with a huge grin.

"So what's you're magic?" I asked while we were sneaking another floor lower.

"Oh! I have the element of earth! Well relative of I'm a nature wizard!" Jack answered.

You see nature wizards have the power to control and summon plants, they are well know for their healing abilities but also with the right spells are quit capable of defending themselves.

" _No wonder his hair is green.._ " I thought to myself.

"So do you know what magic Mark uses?" I asked.

"Yeah! He's a conjurer mage. They summon all kinds of creatures or items to battle beside them!

Mark is the one to summon creatures, I do know another mage who can summon weapons though! My nephew!"

For you see there are different conjurer's you have the beast tamers like Mark, the knights like Jack's nephew, and many many more like the undead conjurer that became a forbidden practice.

There are so many different types of wizards.

You have three versions of elemental wizards like me.

The premiere or basic mages use a main element and with that they can control any type of magic that has to do with it.

The main elements are water, earth, fire and air.

Then you have the secondary mages who use an element falling under the category of one of the main elements.

Like Jack who uses plants, that's a submagic of earth and water.

But because it is a sub he cannot use earth it's self.

Then you have the tertiary mages who use an element indirectly linked to the elements.

Like wood magic which is a distend relative of threes and thus earth/water.

Then there are potion masters.

Where to start with them…

They have their way with ingredients and using the right spells to make their potions even stronger.

They are also known for making poisons, although the serious ones are forbidden.

They are known to be scientist and alchemist.

They usually think before they act, although sometimes they are just lucky that they didn't blow themselves to oblivion yet.

Then there are enchanters who can enchant items to make them more powerful.

They can be really helpful for knight conjurers who summon weapons and armor.

They can make items more resistant, give them more damage, longer endurance.

You name it and they enchant it for you.

Then you have the mind masters, like Delenore herself.

They are one of the rarest forms of magic out there.

They are known to be very clever and very powerful.

They know many secrets and often cloud themselves in mystery.

What exactly the purpose of their powers are is still unknown.

All I know is that there was once an evil witch named Xanadu who used it for a great evil.

She is said to have walked the demon realm and made it back alive.

However she hasn't been seen in twelve years so most mages think she's dead.

Some however still say she's out there, waiting for something.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Consequences

Me and Jack made it another level lower without being noticed which was a miracle since we were talking about the different types of magic.

And Jack wasn't a quiet talker, in fact he was pretty loud.

We started hearing footsteps again when we almost reached ground floor, only they were the sound of heels and not the night guard.

"Quick! Hide!" Jack yelled out as he pointed to a supply room.

We both ran as if our life depended on it yet still managing to keep quit.

We left the door slightly open so we could see who would be coming.

A woman with brown hair in a bun and neatly dressed clothing walked by.

She wasn't very tall but her heels made up for that.

She had a strictly looking face and wore small glasses.

"That's Mrs Hawk." Whispered Jack.

"Ssssh! she'll hear us, idiot." I responded since she was still very close to the supply room.

For a moment I could swear that she stopped, as if she knew someone was there.

But she continued walking and turned to the stairs.

Once she was out of sight both me and Jack came out of our hiding spot.

We turned around an extra time to see if no one was there.

The coast seemed to be clear.

But when we turned back around Mrs Hawk suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere!

"Well well, on a little nightly stroll are we?" She asked with a frown.

"I am terribly sorry miss, but my friend here was sleepwalking and I just so happened to have heard her walking across the building, so I tried to wake her up and get her back to her room!" Jack said while trying to put up an innocent face.

"That is not going to work Mr Riverwood."

I could tell by Jack's face that he was confused since she knew his name.

"Your mother already told us that you like to ignore the rules. As for you Jones, I saw you walking towards the forest earlier today."

Now I was confused as well, " _Did my mom call too?_ " I thought.

Mrs Hawk continued. "I know you're type, you two better have a more suitable explanation for the head mistress! Or you'll be expelled for good!" Mrs Hawk looked angry and pulled us both with her by the ear.

On our way up we encountered the night guard.

He asked Mrs Hawk why she had two students with her and she answered. "These two trouble makers found it funny to roam about at night and lie about it. I'll be taking them to the headmistress. If they somehow do not get expelled I want you to keep a closer eye on them."

" _Sheesh, talk about harsh!_ " I thought.

And thus Mrs Hawk continued to drag us to the sixth floor.

"Excuse me miss? But aren't student forbidden from going to the sixth floor?" Jack asked.

"Did you pay any attention at all Riverwood? Delenore herself explained that her office is there!" Mrs Hawk seemed more irritated now.

"We have arrived." Mrs Hawk simply said while calming herself again.

We stood in front of a huge wooden door.

"Well…. Go on then!" Mrs Hawk said while practically pushing us first.

Jack looked at me, he seemed very worried almost scared.

So I took lead and opened the huge door.

It opened very heavy and made all kinds of noises in the process.

I figured that the door must have been centuries old.

The room was very large with a very high ceiling and bookshelves reaching all the way to the top.

In the middle of the room stood a large oddly shaped desk.

Delenore was writhing in a peculiar, old looking book.

"A Mrs Hawk, Mr Riverwood and Mrs Jones. I have been expecting you." She said while continuing to write.

" _How was that even possible she didn't even look at us, yet she still knew we were the ones that entered. Besides how could she have know there are like 100 students if not more yet she knew our names just like that. Maybe the rumor about her being able to read minds are true_."

I thought to myself.

"Mrs Delenore, these two broke our rules in the second night! That is unforgivable!" Mrs Hawk said.

"I see, they were wondering the school at night." Delenore answered.

" _How did she know? I am really starting to believe those rumors now.. Or maybe it was just a good guess?"_ I thought.

"Good, you are already aware of the situation then." Mrs Hawk said.

Mrs Delenore then looked me straight into the eyes and said. "Well, I am very good at guessing after all."

" _No freaking way! She read my mind, didn't she?_ " I thought.

"Are you going to have them expelled, mistress?" Mrs Hawk asked.

She then looked a Jack for a second.

Let me tell you, you don't need mind reading to be able to tell that he was thinking something along the lines of. "O please no."

"No, I shall not." Delenore finally said after a long pause.

"But you aren't going to leave them unpunished are you?" Mrs Hawk then asked.

"Don't worry Mrs Hawk, I shall not let this pass that easily." Delenore answered.

" _Crap, now we're done for! Detention for life.._ " I thought, as Jack probably did too.

"Come to my office for one week after class. You shall help me with some chores." Delenore said while winking at me and Jack. She had a kind smile while doing so.

"That's it?" Mrs Hawk asked.

"I think you and the night guard gave them enough of a scare already, isn't that right?" She answered back.

Me and Jack just both nodded.

"Now Mrs Hawk be as kind as to escort these two back to their rooms." Delenore continued.

"Yes, Mrs Delenore."

And with that we left the office.

It felt like a weight was lifted, Mrs Hawk didn't speak on the way back.

Only once we arrived at Jack's room she spoke again, but in a rather softer tone.

"Now, off you go Mr Riverwood."

Jack opened the door and walked in, before he close it however he gave me a mischievous look.

As if to say. "Can't wait till next time, when we get another chance to explore."

I returned the look to him, there was something strangely familiar about him.

Mrs Hawk then continued walking me to my room.

When I opened the door she said one last thing to me.

"Better not get near troubled people Mrs Jones. Good night."

She then faded away in the darkness of the halls.

" _Strange why would she warn me with that? I mean Jack is not that troubled, just adventurous_." I thought while diving back in bed.

Dawn broke trough, a new day began.

Pyro woke me up with a squeal of excitement.

"Morning!" I said out loud as I stretched my arms and yawned.

"Morning Emily!" Alma said back.

She was already up and all dressed for school.

"You have about five minutes, starting now!" Alma then said.

It took me a moment to adjust and register what she had just said.

"Crap!" I yelled out as I threw my blanked off and got everything ready.

"Hahahaha, you really are a sleepyhead, you know that?" Alma said while laughing.

Just as I had everything ready I suddenly remembered something.

"The lessons aren't starting yet are they? It's just nine o'clock and at Wensday's we started at eleven." I said while looking at Alma.

"Hahaha like I said, you're a sleepyhead." She said while laughing.

"Urg, I'm going back to bed." But before I could get back in Alma already grabbed my arm and dragged me with her.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I was longingly watching my bed get more distanced from me.

"To the library! Can't you remember? Yesterday evening we all agreed to look up more information regarding that thunix of yours!" She finally said while still dragging me along.

"Crap! You're right!" I finally remembered.

I whistled for Pyro and stuck out my one free arm.

He understood and flew to my arm.

"Good boy." I whispered to him while petting him.

When we got to the library Mark and Jack were already there.

"Hey Em, next time you go on an adventure take me with you too." Mark said.

"What adventure?" Alma asked while looking at me confused.

"Emily and Jack snuck out last night. And ended up getting caught by Mrs Hawk." Mark continued.

"For real? So what is your punishment, I hope it isn't too bad." Alma responded.

"Nah! We just have to go to Mrs Delenore for some chores after class for a week." Jack answered.

"Thank goodness, o by the way. Next time take me with you too! We're in this together!" Alma said with a big smile.

After all the talk of our big adventure and Jack trying to make it sound extra epic, we finally picked up some books and started reading.

The books were pretty boring and so the others seemed to think as well.

"I bet Delenore has all the good books in her office!" Jack said.

"I bet she does!" Mark replied.

"Hey Em! If we need to dusk the shelves or something and we get the chance..." Jack continued.

"Not so sure if that would be a good idea. I mean you guy's already got into trouble once. I think it would be to soon. Those books are probably extremely important." Alma said.

I hate to say this but Alma was right, it was still too soon.

After we discussed a bit more about what could lay in Delenore's office, the school bell rang.

"Time for our first class!" Alma said excitedly.

We all went to the classroom, we started off with potions class and after that had to learn about the history of magic.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Delenore's office.

Potions class was just about to start when we entered.  
"well met students, for those who had forgotten my name or had simply missed it… I am Mr Daniel."  
He wasn't very old for a potions professor.  
He looked like he had just finished school himself, like he was 25.  
"Call me what you want professor, sir, Mr or just Daniel. I hope we all get along since we shall be stuck with each other for five long years."  
I could already see some student fan girls taking a liking to the professor.  
I overheard a conversation between two fan girls sitting in front of me.  
"I can't believe Mr Daniel is teaching us potions!"  
"I heard he once tricked a mountain troll by giving him a shrinking potion while telling him it would make a huge difference! And the troll was as stupid as to take it literally!"  
"No way, I would faint out of fear those trolls are huge!"  
"Not when the professor is around!" They giggled a lot.

"Alright dear students, this first lesson will be a groups project. I want you all to form groups of three or four. Then I want you to grab your potions book and do some research on ingredients. After you have written down five ingredients of choice, I want you to lift up your hand and then I shall see if the combination wouldn't be too destructive. If it is not then you may mix it together and watch the result. Over all, good luck." Mr Daniel explained.

"Hey group!" Mark said while grabbing his book.

I just grabbed my book as well, I got to be honest potions is not my strong point.

All the more reason I guess to study.

"O! I take the green Orithree root!" Jack yelled out.

"Of cause, how about some stardust!" Alma said.

"Oooo! I take the pink feather!" Mark replied also.

"…. maybe the skywood ashes?" I answered.

"O, I know what we could do for our last ingredient! A four leaved clover!" Jack then yelled out.

"Why?" Mark asked. "Why not the griffins claw?"

"Just hear me out! Four leaved clover, we are with four people. Plus it means good luck!" Jack answered.

Then Mr Daniel came up to us. "I'd go for the clover as well, a griffins claw usually ends up in explosions. Not sure what a clover would do though. However clovers aren't known to make potions explode, its usually a pretty safe bet."

"Thank you, professor!" Jack said as he threw the clover in the cauldron.

"Make sure you mix it well! Here's the hot water you need." Mr Daniel said as he poured the water in.

Then Alma dropped the stardust in followed by my skywood ashes.

Then the potion started boiling and it turned purple.

All four of us had our head right above the cauldron.

It smelled like freshly cut grass.

Then Jack added his green orithree root and the potion turned green and started boiling even more, so much that it almost boiled over the cauldrons edge.

Mark then dropped in the feather, the feather in term burned up and its pink color mixed with the green boiling water.

The water seemed less and less like liquid.

Then the boiling stopped…

We all looked inside the cauldron and saw a weird mixture.

It looked like a small galaxy of green and pink.

There was also some green and pink steam coming from it.

We were all staring at the weird steaming slime.

We moved closer as there was a faint whistling sound.

The weird slime started boiling again, but very slowly.

There were just a view bubbles.

Then one bubble burst open spattering some of the potion onto Mark.

All three of us started laughing as Mark removed the slime from his face.

Then the cauldron made a weird squeal sound and we all looked again.

This time the sound was loud enough for Mr Daniel to hear.

We bend over the cauldron again.

Mr Daniel yelled at us, trying to warn us. "Students! Get away from that cauldron!"

Unfortunately it was already too late.

Before we could even register what Mr Daniel said the cauldron already exploded.

All the green and pink slime was thrown all over me, Alma, Jack and Mark.

"Eeeeew!" We all yelled out as the other students laughed at us.

Now we'd be the outcast for sure.

The four students who managed to let their cauldron explode in their fist potion class.

The slime was very sticky and hard to remove, it also smelled like an overly sweet odor.

Like a worse version of cotton candy smell.

"O no! Are you alright?" Mr Daniel asked.

"Yeah…. Just a little grossed out and humiliated." I replied while the other three nodded.

"Right! Just go to you're rooms to wash up, I'll tell Mrs Smith you're history teacher that you got the day off." He answered.

"Thanks professor! Wait what about our detention at Delenore's office?" Jack replied.

"I'm afraid you'd still have to go to her, if you feel anything weird however I want you to immediately go to the nursery!" Mr Daniel said.

"Understood professor!" We all agreed.

So me and Alma went to our room, as Jack and Mark went to theirs.

"Urg that went well." I said sarcasticly.

"Hahaha! We screwed up didn't we?" Alma asked while trying to wipe of the weird stuff.

"You can take a shower first, I'll just try to wipe it off with some towels in the mean time." I said.

"Thanks Em!" Alma immediately ran off to the shower.

I noticed she was for some reason more uncomfortable than before.

I proceeded to put a towel on my bed so I could sit down while waiting.

While I was waiting I also tried to remove most of the sticky slime with another towel.

It didn't really help much tough.

I suddenly felt like my arm was being poked with needles.

I quickly walked to the mirror to see what was happening.

I noticed small wounds covering my arms.

It was almost like a bleach reaction but worse.

Then Alma came back from the shower also covert in small scratches.

"Okay, you're turn Em. This stuff is dangerous, you should go to the shower right away." Alma said.

"Thanks!" I yelled out as a ran to the shower.

After washing up I had to go to Delenore's office as promised.

When I got there Jack was already waiting outside.

His arm were also scared just like mine.

"Hey Em!" He yelled out.

"Hey Jack, ready for the punishment?" I answered.

"No actually, but let's just get it over with."

So we opened the door and walked inside.

Delenore was again writing in the weird old book.

"Hello Mr Riverwood and Mrs Jones." She said. "Ready for your punishment?"

"Honestly not really." Jack said.

"That's okay, the bookshelves need some dusting. Once you two are done with that you can go back to your rooms. I have something that I have to take care off." Delenore said as she walked out.

So me and Jack grabbed some ladders and dusting gear.

And started dusting the shelves, from top to bottom.

Jack was dusting a hard to reach place and could only barely reach.

I suddenly noticed something odd, Jack had a green with pink striped feather on his arm.

"Uhm Jack?" I asked.

"Yeah?" Jack answered as he almost fell off the ladder.

"Uhm…. There is a feather on your arm..." I said while looking weirdly at him.

"What?.." He said. He noticed where I was looking and also looked down at his arm.

"Don't know where that came from." He said as he grabbed the feather.

It seemed to be stuck on his arm, so he pulled it off.

I saw his face cringe as if he felt pain when he did that.

"Are you okay?" I asked and he just nodded.

So after we were done dusting all the shelves we went back to our rooms.

It was pretty late already, almost ten o'clock.

So we both just decided to go back to bed and we'd see each other in the morning.

Once I got to my room I noticed Alma was already asleep.

So I figured it was I'd do the same.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A rather odd situation.

The next morning I woke up to Alma panicking.

In my half awake state I asked. "Alma why are you so panicked? What happened?"

"I think it's the potion from yesterday!" I was able to make out from Alma's panicked state.

"Alma, speak more clearly..."

"Emily wake up! We have a real situation here!" She then said while staring at me.

"...Fine" I said as I sat straight up.

I looked at Alma and…. She had feathers…

Green with pink ones.

She had wings where her arms should be!

That's when I fully awoke. "Alma! You have wings!"

"Not just me idiot! Just look at your own arms!" She said back.

It was true!

My arms had also turned into wings!

Also green with pink!

Mine did have a different pattern then hers though.

"What about Jack and Mark?" I asked.

"I don't know! Maybe we should check on them!" Alma said while still panicking.

So I tried to open the door, that proved to be quite the challenge with wings instead of arms.

Eventually in managed to open it by using the bone of the wing.

So the two of us grabbed our capes, which was also very challenging.

I had to put Alma's cape on her and she put mine on me.

Then we ran towards the boy's room.

It took us a while to figure out how to knock with wings.

Eventually I told Alma to step aside and I used my head.. literally.

I banged my head on the door, which slightly hurt but it worked and that was all that mattered.

We heard the guy's panicking inside while they attempted to open the door.

Eventually they managed to do so.

"Hey girls what's up?" Mark said trying to play it cool while hiding his bright pink wings.

"Mark it happened to us too." I said as I let myself in while Alma followed.

When we were inside we saw Jack looking at his bright green wings.

Jack's wings were mostly green with a small pink dot at the end of each feather.

Mark's wings were the other way around, pink with a little bit of green.

"What the hell is going on?!" Jack then asked when he looked at us and saw our wings too.

"We think it's the potion." Alma said.

"Well we need to go to the infirmary then right? I mean that's what Mr Daniel said." Mark said.

"True, well then let's go! They'll have us fixed in no time!" I said trying to cheer everyone up.

So we all went to the schools infirmary and went straight to the nurse.

Luckily thanks to our capes no one noticed the wings yet.

"Hello dearies what can I help you with?" A person in white clothing asked.

"You're the nurse right?" Mark said.

"Yes, my name is Seraphine. I am the head nurse here at the school." She said with a kind smile.

"Good! We need your help! Yesterday we accidentally spilled a potion on us and now..." Alma said while reviling her wings.

"Oh dear! Come right this way!" Seraphine said while guiding us to a bench in the infirmary.

"Wait right here. I'll get Mr Daniel and he'll help me make and antidote." She continued.

She then walked out of the room while telling another nurse too keep an eye on us.

The other nurse came over to us and started talking about how her day went.

At first it was nice but she talked so much that it soon became annoying.

It became so bad that we all started to have headaches.

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore but before I could say anything Mark already did.

"Shut up, nurse!" He yelled.

Unfortunately that didn't help much, she was quiet for exactly two seconds.

This day couldn't get any worse or so we thought.

Mr Daniel came running along with Seraphine and Delenore.

"Are you alright?" Mister Daniel said.

"With this talking lunatic not so much. She's even worse than me!" Jack replied.

"O I'm very sorry dearies, Samantha can get ahead if herself sometimes. Off you go Samantha, the student in bed 105 needs you're help." Seraphine said.

And so Samantha the talker finally left them alone.

So the gang each showed their wings.

"Strange very strange, you're not supposed to learn shape shifting magic until year three if I'm not mistaken. What ingredients did they use?" Delenore said as she held her chin.

"Well I have it written down right here, let's see." Mr Daniel said as he grabbed a book.

"Ah yes.. The ingredients were: the green Orithree root, stardust, skywood ashes and an unidentified pink feather..." Mr Daniel continued.

"Unidentified? Did you get a sample?" Delenore asked.

"Well yeah! There were two of those feathers. As matter of fact I have it right here." Mr Daniel answered while giving the feather to Delenore.

"I see… I think it's from an Achiyalabopa. It is described as being of extraordinary size and having rainbow-colored feathers. It's feathers are rare but if used in a potion it will help turning something into a specific color. It is indeed mostly used in shape shifting potions." Delenore concluded.

"Can you fix it?" I asked.

"I'm afraid it is very powerful magic, I only have two antidote's in my possession." Delenore said.

"So you can only held two of us?" Mark asked.

"Yes, for the remaining two I think it would take another day or two before I have another antidote ready." Delenore answered.

"Okay guy's who's gonna sacrifice themselves?" Alma then asked.

"I have a better idea! Jack, Emily, if the two of you would be so kind as to give Mark and Alma the antidote, I will consider it as you're new punishment and you won't have to come after hours to my office anymore." Delenore than said with a smile on her face.

My mom was right, she's a kind person and not at all strict.

"Alright, I can live with another day of having wings." I said agreeing on the terms.

"You know what?! Em's right! Besides this green fits my hair!" Jack said with a smile.

"Than it is arranged! Here you go Mark, Alma." Delenore said while giving them the antidote.

"Thanks!" They both said as they drank the antidote.

It took a couple of minutes but after a while their arms had returned to normal.

That meant that Delenore was right it was an Achiyalabopa.

Delenore further explained that we were lucky, because an Achiyalabopa is also know to have knife like feathers.

If we had used one of those the spell would be nearly unbreakable.

We were lucky indeed, otherwise we'd be stuck with wings for the rest of our lives.

The feathers are also forbidden to use, but since none of us knew that, Delenore left us off the hook.

She was curious however on how such an artifact ended up in potions class.

Non of us knew the answer to that, other than by accident.

So Delenore left it be, for now.

We had to go the next class almost immediately after our infirmary visit.

Our next lesson was Monstolegie with Mr Rake.

So we grabbed our schoolbooks and ran towards class.

Again we were the last to enter the classroom.

But we were in time.

The classroom was huge and filled with pictures, bones, fur, feathers of all kinds of creatures.

There were even some cages.

We were allowed to take out pets with us too, that way he could explain something about them as well.

I of cause had Pyro with me, he was sitting on my shoulder since my hands were still wings of cause.

The teacher took instant notice of Pyro.

"What a fine bird you have, Thunix if I'm not mistaken?" Mr Rake said.

"Indeed, he's still young but already is starting to look like an adult! I found him in the woods his parent was hunted down by hunters. And I couldn't just leave him." I said.

"It's good that you took him with you. I can see he is in capable hands… or uhm wings? You're quite the extraordinary specimen yourself miss..."

"Emily, Emily Jones. And that was because of a potion gone wrong." I answered.

"I so have to introduce you to my nephew! His last name is also Jones!" Jack said.

So the lesson started, he was talking about one of the most common creatures.

The fairy's! No one really saw them much because they are masters of disguise.

But they are out there, lots of them as a matter of fact.

He told us on how there are different kinds of fairy's and there are some that work for wizards.

He told us that they are a species of supernatural beings or nature spirits, one of the most beautiful and important of mythological creatures.

They are usually calm and helpful creatures but if they are offended they can be very dangerous.

The main types include the trooping fairies, who are the aristocrats of the fairy world, living in palaces or dancing and feasting underground.

The hobgoblin fairies of a rougher, workman type.

The nature spirits of rivers, gardens, and woods.

And lastly deformed monsters, those fairy's are evillized by vengeance and would do almost anything to destroy the one they despise.

After a while of talking about fairies I thought it might be good idea to ask Mr Rake about the Achiyalabopa.

So I put my hand in the air.

"Yes? Miss Jones? What is it you want to ask?" Mr Rake said.

"Uhm, do you perhaps know anything about the Achiyalabopa?" I asked.

"Why of cause! The Achiyalabopa is a huge bird god of the Pueblo people. He is described as being of extraordinary size and having rainbow-colored feathers as sharp as knives. It was considered a celestial creature and may have once been attributed to the whole of creation. As up now he is the only know bird of it's species." Mr Rake explained.

It was weird to think that people see it as a god of sorts, but then again no magic people would since it was a bird of great power.

The rest of the lessons went by pretty smoothly although sometimes having trouble with my wings.

It soon started becoming dark outside.

We had to go back to our rooms already.

So we went back, I started reading my monstrolegie book since it seemed very interesting.

This was probably gonna be one of my favorite lessons.

Soon however it became night and Alma had already fallen asleep.

I couldn't sleep however, there was just a weird feeling.

I grabbed a glass of water but on my way back to bed something caught my eyes.

It was something outside.

A person… heading towards the direction of the foggy forest!

But no one is allowed to go there at night, not even teachers!

I wondered who it was but it wore a cl0ack so I couldn't see any features.

Unfortunately I couldn't go exploring yet since the night guard kept a close eye on us.

So I decided to see if I could find any clues in the morning.

It took a while that night for me to fall asleep.

I kept having the feeling that something wasn't right.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

What lies within the woods.

The next morning Alma was already up and grabbed all her supplies for today.

"Emily, wake up! Em! Birdy!" Alma yelled as she pulled the blanket off of me.

"I'm still sleepy..." I answered.

"Then you need to sleep more at night!" Alma said while shaking me.

"Why are you so active? Didn't we have the morning off?" I asked while sitting up.

"Yeah! That's why we're going to the library!" Alma said with a huge smile.

"Are you insane? On our free morning?…. Alright!" I said as I realized this might be my chance to get Alma to come with me too the foggy forest!

So I got up and got out of my pajama and got properly dressed.

Once I had also grabbed all my needed stuff I whistled at Pyro and he flew to my shoulder.

Me and Alma walked towards the staircase and on the staircase we saw Mark and Jack.

They seemed to be talking about something serious as they're expressions weren't the usual happy face but more worried.

"Hey guy's! What's up?" I asked.

"Well we were wondering around the school and we heard a strange rumor.. so we went to ask a teacher and he said it was true..." Mark said while hesitating to continue.

"What rumor?" I asked.

Just as Mark wanted to answer Mr. Rake randomly showed up and answered.

"A student from you class is missing." He said with a concerned expression.

"Who?" I asked.

"Noel Swinter… I know that you four didn't really know you're other classmates but I still wish to warn you, don't go looking for her! Me and the other teachers can handle this!" He said.

"Don't worry we won't!" Alma said quickly.

So the teacher walked away again, leaving us on the staircase.

"Maybe we should investigate? You know not necessarily looking for her but just to see if anything else is off.." I said carefully not mentioning the forest.

"I'm with you on this one!" Mark said as Jack also nodded in approval.

So we turned to Alma.

"Too bad I get to miss the library today but alright I'm in..." She said looking a bit disappointed.

So it was settled!

We had decided too split up, Jack and Alma were a team and me and Mark.

Jack and Alma were checking inside the school while me and Mark had to check the outside area.

This was perfect!

I got to get real close to the forest and Mark wouldn't stop me from going in if I felt like it.

I knew how to get him to come along.

So I walked closer and closer to the forbidden entrance sign.

I noticed some footprints leading into the forest.

I knew it! It wasn't my imagination, I really did see someone last night!

So I did the only logical thing that came to mind, following the footprints.

Mark followed me until we stood at the edge.

"Emily! Are you crazy?! We can't go in there!" Mark yelled.

"Why not? Don't tell me you're scared?" I said in a taunting way, I knew he was too proud to back out now.

"I'm not scared!" He yelled back.

"Good then we're going!" I said.

"Urg fine! But if we get caught or worse killed out there it's your fault!" He said.

"Fine by me! So let's go!" I said with a smirk.

And thus we finally entered the woods!

I was trilled to be there, those woods seemed so mysterious.

Who knows what could be out there?!

I know it can be a dangerous place especially at night, but that's exactly what drew me towards it!

The excitement of adventure lay ahead and I couldn't wait to embrace it!

Mark seemed to be on edge though.

He acts all high and mighty but he's actually scared quickly.

Doesn't mean he isn't brave, on the contrary he's the bravest person I met so far!

Instead of running for his fears he faces it head on!

Like a friend of mine once said: "One does not need to be fearless to be brave, in fact the meaning of truly being brave is facing your fears no matter how bad they are!"

Honestly I kind of admired Mark for his bravery.

Anyways, we were walking through the woods for what felt like hours.

The wind was starting to pick up and we heard countless animals.

Mark was walking behind me and continuously looked nervously behind him.

I couldn't blame him, the forest was really getting to us.

It was almost as if the trees itself moved in on us, secluding us from the rest of society.

On one hand it was very peaceful but on the other kind of spooky.

I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn't even slightly nervous.

I had shivers all over and not only of the cold wind.

We kept walking deeper and deeper into the woods.

After a bit there was a fog starting to appear across the floor.

Now we know why it was named the foggy forest, it was actually foggy.

I know it would seem obvious to know that but knowing our magical world, anything could have been the lead to the forest's name.

"Maybe we should turn back?!" Mark finally asked with a shivering voice.

"Maybe you're right..." Honestly the forest was getting to us.

So we turned around ready to go back.

The trees seemed more cramped somehow and I didn't recognize any of them.

"Which way is back?" Mark asked.

"Good question… The forest looks different somehow.." I responded as we were both looking around for any familiar paths.

That´s when we noticed we were not even on a path anymore, how did that happen?

That's just great! We were lost…I'm stuck in a forest with a goofy guy who's panicking..

Suddenly the animals stopped making their noise.

It was quiet, a bit too quiet.

That's when a thought hit me, I had Pyro with me..

Meaning he could fly back to the school and we'd just have to follow him.

"Alright I have an idea. How about we just let Pyro fly back to the school and we follow him." I explained to Mark.

And with that I lifted up my arm and let Pyro fly up.

He hovered and looked around for a bit.

He glanced over to a couple of trees up ahead and seemed to be on edge for some reason.

Pyro then quickly flew the other way.

We of cause followed.

It didn't take us long to notice some leaves crushing somewhere behind us.

That must have been the person that spooked Pyro.

I didn't even need to say anything to Mark, he knew we had to run.

For all we know it could be a mystical creature of the forest or worse a teacher….

The fog was getting worse too.

It got to the point where we could barely see Pyro.

Eventually we completely lost sight of him.

We were lost once again.

The noises of crunching leaves came closer still.

"What do we do?! What do we do?!" Mark panicked.

"Uhm.. crap!" I yelled as we ran, then something caught my eye.

"Quick Mark over here!" I pulled Mark with me behind a large bush that was also slightly hidden by two larger trees.

We were out of breath yet we remained as quit as we could.

If it was a teacher we were screwed, detention for life or maybe even expelled.

But if it was one of the creatures that roam the forest we'll definitely be goners.

I glanced over and saw a large shadow approach.

The shadow looked normal at first but after mere seconds it turned it's head slightly reveling inhuman fangs cast withing the shadow.

It then stretched it's hand reveling it to be more claw like.

Something about it's eerie presence seemed somewhat familiar.

It let out a low growl and started walking on all fours as it sniffed the area.

My guess was that it relied mostly on smell, but boy was I wrong.

Mark finally found the courage to also take a peek at it.

However he slightly he could probably see more then I could since he gasped in horror.

The thing noticed this and turned it's head straight to our location.

Me and Mark both quickly fully hid ourselves, as the thing came closer.

Mark was a white as a sheet of paper, while I had to hold my hand in front of my mouth in order to mute my breathing.

After a couple of sheer terrifying minutes seemed to have passed, it finally decided to look elsewhere.

Why? I'm not certain. It seemed to have picked up a different smell, I suppose.

I let out a sign in relief.

"That was uhm.. something.." I whispered to Mark.

As I looked over to him I noticed a small light flying next to him.

"Uhm…?" Before I could say anything else, the light pulled Mark by the ear.

"Ow ow ow!" Mark said as he was being pulled along by the weird light.

"… What the?…. Hey! Let him go!" I yelled as I ran after them.

The light pulled Mark very fast so I had trouble keeping up.

But then it finally stopped.

We were at a huge tree.. filled with those strange lights…

The light that had pulled Mark suddenly flew up to me almost to my face.

"Help us.." The light said.

"Wha-?" Before I could finish my sentence Mark was poking the light.

It giggled as if being tickled… weird..

That's when I noticed how it looked like..

"Mark? Do you know what this is?" I said softly.

"Some weird magic I assume.." He said looking weirdly at the floating light in front of him.

This was amazing! It was simply our dumb luck we found this!

Some wizards spent over a decay to find a place like this!

But something seemed off…

Some light were glowing less bright and when you listened carefully soft small cry's were heard.

And the huge tree… it looked like it was decaying..


End file.
